Broken
by bulletproofpencil
Summary: Jaune is left mourning for the loss of his love after a failed mission and is left completely broken.
1. Chapter 1

"We are all gathered here to mourn the loss of one of our own," Ozpin spoke to the few in audience of the funeral, his voice coarse, "Ruby Rose, now former leader of the first year team RWBY, has fallen in battle, her body wasn't recovered. She would have made a great huntress, and a great woman had this tragedy not happened, but let's not forget the dangers this line of work holds. Let us keep her memory in our hearts as we move forward."

The funeral pyre was lit. Team JNPR and the remaining members of team RWBY watched the cloth banner that bore the deceased leader's symbol slowly catch fire and turn to ashes. It had been hours as the observers slowly trickled away, leaving the only the blonde knight staring at the ashes as the sun slowly rose over the horizon.

"Jaune, we have to go," Pyrrha approached her leader.

"She was my best friend, you know," he muttered as he finally collapsed to his knees.

"We all know," she sat down next to him, putting a hand on his back to comfort him, "you spent so much time with her, we all thought it was more than that."

"I wish it was," the broken boy tried his best to hold back his tears, "I loved her, Pyrrha, but I never got the chance to tell her. I never will."

"It's okay, Jaune," she gave a pained look as the tears started to flow, "I'm sure she would have felt the same."

"No, it's not! It's never going to be okay," he cried out, "We were all on that mission, and I was supposed to protect her!"

"None of us could have done a thing, it's not your fault."

"I could have done something if I were stronger I-, I…" his voice faltered and allowed the sobs to pour out of his mouth.

"Come on, Jaune," she lightly tugged on his arm, "you need some rest."

The pair walked in silence back to their dorm, Pyrrha was too scared to say a thing in fear of triggering any memories in her friend. Jaune stayed silent in fear of what he might not mean to say. He collapsed face first onto his bed as soon as they reached their shared room, instantly falling asleep, hoping to dream of better times.

Later that night, Jaune tossed and turned, his subconscious forcing him to relive those painful moments. There was blood in his vision, but it wasn't his. "Ruby?!" he called, with no reply, he turned to the cat faunus who had just struck down a large creature, "Blake, where's Ruby?!"

"I don't know, she went off on her own," she answered as she defended against another attack.

Jaune took off in the direction Blake had pointed out to him. He sprinted as fast as his fatigued legs would allow him. His stomach turned with anxiety and his heart was ready to jump out of his throat at a moment's notice, the thought of what might happen. "Ruby!" he called as he entered the clearing.

"Jaune, what happened?!" she screamed, taking the head off an ursa and turning to him.

"Nothing, we just need you back with the group," he internally sighed at the sight of his fellow leader. He paused for a moment to quickly take in her appearance. Though it had been just two short years since he had first found her in a small crater outside the school, there was certainly a noticeable difference. She hadn't grown too much, but the top of her head now matched the height of his nose. He admired how her hair flowed in the wind, which now came down to her shoulder blades. Her hips have also widened, giving her a more womanly appearance, though it wasn't just her waist that has grown. Jaune blushed after realizing what his focus had come to.

As soon as she joined him at his side, Jaune grabbed her wrist and pulled her into a hug. It wasn't a short hug that they had commonly shared, it was a longer and tender hug. The younger of the two pulled away, a red color strewn across her face. "What was that?" she asked, feigning ignorance to hide her own feelings.

"Please, be careful," was all he could say as he stared into her silver eyes. "I can't lose you, so just please…"

"I'll be fine," she reassuringly smiled, "and after the mission's done, we'll have movie night together, like we always do."

"Let's just focus on staying alive right now," he said, leading the way back to the rest of their respective teams.

"Holy shit! This fucking hurts!" she howled in pain, trying her best to keep pressure on the hole in her side. The group had been pushed up against the mountain side, forming a semicircle around the wounded brawler. "Where the fuck are Jaune and Ruby?"

As if on cue, the creatures of darkness started dropping at the sound of gunshots in the distance. Jaune came flying from the treetops, throwing his sword at one and crashing into the other, beheading it with the edge of his shield. He retrieved his blade that had impaled the beowolf and swiftly cut down three ursa. Ruby had followed in a similar fashion, hooking the edge around the neck of the first enemy, shot another and used the recoil to sever the head.

"Show offs," Weiss scowled at the two.

"Before anything else happens, we should probably get back to Beacon," Jaune reminded them of the more pressing matter.

"He's right. Blake, Ren, do you think you can carry her?" Ruby chimed in.

"Yeah," Blake answered while Ren just nodded in agreement. Both took a side, each taking a leg to lift and an arm to hold her back for support.

"We need to get moving, another wave of them are closing in," Jaune announced. "I'll take point with Nora. Weiss and Pyrrha, you two stay with Ren, Blake and Yang and cover their flanks. Ruby, cover our asses from the back, make sure nothing takes us by surprise. Let's hurry, we don't have much time if we all want to live."

No one questioned his command, they all fell into their respective places and took off running. The group cut through the crowds of darkness like an arrow through wind. Beacon was finally in sight. 'Just a few more miles,' the paladin thought to himself, 'less than an hour to safety and I can finally tell her.'

All seemed to go so well until the nevermore showed up. It wasn't just one or two, but a whole flock raining death onto them in the form of weaponized feathers. The group did their best to defend against and evade the feathers. Jaune instinctively fell back to help defend Ruby. "Nora, we're almost to the safe zone, just don't stop!" he instructed as he block an oncoming feather from piercing his beloved.

The safe haven of Vale's guarded walls were in sight. Jaune watched as, one by one, his friends and comrades entered the open gates. 'We're safe,' he internally sighed in relief, 'just a few more meters and-,'

His train of thought was caught off as he felt his body being violently knocked to the side like a ragdoll. The pain in his left arm was too much for him to lift the shield and stay conscious. "Jaune!" his eyes shot open after a few seconds of drifting. He saw as the reaper impale the beast that was standing over him, "Come on, Jaune, we're almost there."

She took his arm over her shoulders and helped him for a few steps, only for him to hit the ground again. Every bit of pain was replaced with panic, rage and grief as his vision turned red. Her blood flowed down the length of the shaft of the giant feather and pooled at the base where it met the ground. Ruby's body went limp mere seconds after Crescent Rose had fallen from her hands, but held in place where she had been impaled.

"Ruby!" Jaune shot up in his bed and out of his dream. He looked around to find that it had gotten dark. He stood up, gathered his jacket, exited the dorm into the cold night air and made his way to Beacon cliff. He sat at the edge, letting his legs dangle freely, and stared out into the darkness of the night. Once again, he let his sadness flow from his eyes, and allowed the grief to escape his mouth.

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><p><strong>Author's note: I came up with the idea for this story while I was eating dinner with my extended family for Thanksgiving. I focused way too much on the action of piercing the turkey with my fork and viola, the idea for the death of my favorite character to ship with Jaune in RWBY was formed. I feel like a sick bastard for coming up with this. Tell me what you all think of it, is it too graphic to keep it at T rating? I think that it's going to be the only death I'm gonna write in this story.<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note: I know it's an uber short chapter compared to how much I normally write, but my writer's block has struck again while I was writing this. I wanted to bring back Ruby somehow, I didn't just want to leave her dead. It's not my best work, but I hope you guys like it.**

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><p>The woman opened her eyes, the world slowly coming into focus. She turned her head and looked around the room, different machines decorated the walls of the small room, half of which were connected to her in some way and the other half beeped and displayed numbers. 'Where am I?' she thought to herself, trying to remember what had happened. As she attempted to recall the events leading to her current circumstances, a sharp pain came from the inside of her head. 'Who am I?'<p>

Upon further self-inspection, she found a raw patch of skin on her chest. It was red and soft to the touch, similar to a newborn baby's skin. After a few moments of rubbing the scar and thinking, she clutched her temples in an attempt to ease the pain. "W-what happened?" she muttered as the sharp pain slowly but surely subsided.

"You were injured on a mission, Miss Rose. Your teammates reported that they couldn't retrieve your body," the young woman looked up to see a silver haired man, "so I was immensely relieved to hear that the general had found you and I'm sure your friends would be too. Do you remember anything at all?"

"Just a name, but I'm pretty sure it's not mine," she looked at him in confusion, "Jaune."

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><p>"Ruby!" Jaune shot up in his bed, yet again. He looked around to find his darkened room, to his surprise, his teammates were still asleep despite his scream. Lifting his legs, he moved to sit at the edge of his bed, holding his face in his hands. 'Every night this month it's been the same thing,' he thought to himself.<p>

The young leader gathered his jacket, and made his way to Beacon cliff. When he arrived to his usual spot he was greeted with an unusual sight. "Do you think she'd be mad if I jumped off?" she spoke, not moving from her spot at the edge of the crag.

"I've asked myself that question almost every night this month, Yang," Jaune took a seat next to the brawler. He pulled out a lighter and a cigarette, and brought them both to his face, "I can't sleep, I can't eat, hell I can't even go one day without thinking about what happened."

"You're that shaken up, huh?" she turned to see his eyes, void of sort of happiness. It broke her heart to see her sister's best friend, the man she watched her fall in love with, and the one who usually had a contagious smile on his face, in such a state. "Since when did you start smoking?"

"A few days after the funeral," Jaune said in between drags, "it doesn't hurt as much as I thought it would. It helps a little." He took a deep breath, exhaling loudly, "I loved her, Yang. I loved her so much, and I couldn't save her. It's my fault she's gone. You must hate me for not being able to do anything to save her."

"It's not your fault Jaune. I wasn't able to do anything either," she comforted her friend as she choked back tears, "I was wounded and useless, but Ruby was fighting until her last breath. I should have died that day, not her."

"That's also my fault. If I had been more careful, none of this would have happened. You wouldn't have been wounded and Ruby still be alive," Jaune flicked the cigarette butt over the cliff, watching the small glowing red dot disappear into the darkness below, "I promised that I'd protect her, that nothing would happen to her, but I'm such a fuck up that I can't even do that right."

"Dammit, Jaune, stop blaming yourself!" Yang screamed, "You did all you could, we all did, yet she still died. She was my sister. Besides you, I knew her best. She was my family, and I don't even blame you for her death."

Silence fell, as soon as Yang finished speaking her mind. During this time, Jaune painfully recalled the events leading up to his beloved's death. "Don't you think it's weird?" he asked.

"What is?" she raised an eyebrow.

"We were so close to Vale's borders," he pointed out, "it wasn't more than ten kilometers, so why were there so much grimm? They don't usually come that close to the walls in packs that big."

"Now that you mention it, it is kind of weird," Yang agreed.

"I might know the reason," he pondered before standing up, brushing himself off and offering a hand to the brawler, "but first we should get some rest."

The walk back to their dorms was silent, but Yang noticed the determined look in his eyes. "Jaune," she started before entering her dorm room, "just so you know, Ruby did love you back. She never told me, but with the way she looked at you, she didn't have to."

"Thanks, Yang," he smiled back, finding contentment in the information confided to him.


End file.
